Telephone service users, e.g., sales people, businesses, and even individuals, have come to rely on the ability of the public switched telephone network (PSTN) to provide a host of voice services including telephone conferencing, call transfer, voice mail, etc. As computers and the Internet continue to grow in importance, people using telephones are becoming ever more dependent on their computers to provide and/or enter relevant information needed to service a telephone call. Examples of cases where computer access is important to servicing a telephone call include, e.g., providing product information, entering a telephone order for merchandise, etc. During conference calls it is frequently helpful if conference call participants can share information on their computers while engaged in discussions over the telephone.
Until recently, telephone companies focused primarily on providing voice services to customers. With the advent of the computer age and the ever increasing demand for the ability to display and enter information using a computer, the need for integrated voice and data services is becoming ever more apparent.
In order to provide enhanced telephone services, many telephone companies now implement a telephone communications network as an Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN) which has made it easier to provide a wide array of previously unavailable telephone services. In an AIN system, telephone central offices, each of which serves as a signal switching point (SSP), detect one of a number of call processing events identified as AIN “triggers”. An SSP which detects a trigger suspends processing of the call which activated the trigger, compiles a call data message and forwards that message via a common channel interoffice signaling (CCIS), utilizing the Signal System 7(SS-7) protocol, link to a database system, such as a Service Control Point (SCP). The SCP may be implemented as part of an integrated service control point (ISCP). If needed, the SCP can instruct the central office SSP at which the AIN trigger was activated to obtain and forward additional information, e.g., information relating to the call. Once sufficient information about the call has reached the ISCP, the ISCP accesses stored call processing information or records (CPRs) to generate from the received message data, a call control message. The call control message is then used to instruct the central office on how to process the call which activated the AIN trigger. As part of the call control message, an ISCP can instruct the central office to send the call to an outside resource, such as an intelligent peripheral (IP) using a send to outside resource (STOR) instruction. IPs are frequently coupled to SSPs to provide message announcement capabilities, voice recognition capabilities and other functionality which is not normally provided by the central office. The control message is normally communicated from the ISCP to the SSP handling the call via the CCIS/SS-7 link. Once received, the SCP completes the call in accordance with the instructions received in the control message.
One service which can be enhanced with the use of AIN functionality is Centrex. Centrex takes a group of normal telephone lines and provides call processing to add business features to the otherwise standard telephone lines. For example, Centrex adds intercom capabilities to the lines of a specified business group so that a business customer can dial other stations within the same group, e.g., lines belong to the same company, using extension numbers such as a two, three, or four digit numbers, instead of the full telephone number associated with each called line. Other examples of Centrex service features include call transfer between users at different stations of a business group, and a number of varieties of call forwarding. Thus, Centrex adds a bundle of business features on top of standard telephone line features without requiring special equipment, e.g., a private branch exchange (PBX) at the customer's premises. U.S. Pat. No. 5,247,571, which is hereby expressly incorporated by reference, describes in detail a Wide Area Centrex system implemented using AIN techniques.
In order to make it easier to manage various Centrex services, e.g., call forwarding services, it has been suggested that users of Centrex services be allowed to manage various service features from their computers via the Internet. U.S. Pat. No. 5,958,016 discusses the use of a server accessible via the Internet, to allow users limited control of AIN based telephone services from their computers.
While AIN systems are beginning to take advantage of computers and Internet Protocol (IP) network access to the telephone system for making management of telephone services easier, the ability of an AIN network to provide new services by interacting with subscriber's computers and/or computer network has generally gone overlooked.
To facilitate telephone system and computer system interaction, a TAPI (telephone application programming interface) has begun to be supported by Microsoft Corporation and other computer software providers. TAPI is intended for use by computer systems which are coupled to a telephone device thereby allowing the computer system to receive signals from, and send signals to, the attached telephone device. Using TAPI, a computer system user can initiate telephone operations by activating icons on his/her computer screen and/or entering relevant information such as the telephone number to be dialed. Modern TAPI applications frequently focus on enhancing customer premise equipment to merge computer and telephony functions normally provided by separate telephone and computer devices at the customer's premise into a single computer/telephony device.
In view of the above discussion, it should be apparent that a host of new telephony/computer services based on the integration of voice and computer services is desirable. Rather than simply focus on computer/telephony enhancements to customer premise equipment, new network based services which provide integrated computer/telephony features are desirable.
For example, in many cases, it would be desirable to perform network based call routing or call distribution operations based on information available from the computer systems associated with individuals to whom a call might be routed by the telephone network. It would also be desirable if the telephone network could populate the computer screen of an individual with information relevant to servicing the call before or as the call is being routed to the individual. It would also be desirable if call related information could be automatically transferred and/or shared between computers as a call is transferred or conferenced.